Author: TechCrunch News

Web browser and search startup Brave has laid off 27 employees across the different departments, TechCrunch has learned. The company confirmed the layoffs but didn’t give more details about the total headcount left and the reason for the layoffs. It represents a significant portion of the company’s staff — PitchBook estimates that Brave has around…

After a nearly three-year interlude, Jared Isaacman is returning to space. The billionaire entrepreneur first went to orbit as part of the Inspiration4 mission, which made history for having a crew comprised entirely of private citizens, not professional astronauts. But with this next mission, Polaris Dawn…

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. NASA leadership have made their decision: Starliner will be coming back to Earth — empty. More on that below. Want to reach out with a tip? Email Aria at aria.techcrunch@gmail.com or send a message on Signal at 512-937-3988. You also can send a note to the whole TechCrunch…

The first defense startup to receive backing from Y Combinator, Ares Industries, launched earlier this week. In a post on the YC website, the startup outlined a vision to build low-cost cruise missiles that will be compatible with existing launch platforms, saying it will “deliver the capabilities that the [Department of Defense] wants in a…

As AI developers and others start to think more deeply about how computers and people intersect, Stephan Wolfram says it is becoming a much more of a philosophical exercise © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only…

The Port of Seattle, which also operates the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, said it was hit with a “possible cyberattack” that appeared to affect websites and phone systems. The port first noted the outages via social media on Saturday morning, with the airport then posting that it had “experienced certain system outages indicating a possible cyberattack.”…

VCs are increasingly buying shares of late-stage startups on the secondary market as they try to get pieces of the hottest ones — especially AI companies. But they are also increasingly doing so through financial instruments called special purpose vehicles (SVPs). Some of those SPVs are becoming such hot commodities that they are commanding premium…

From the looks of things, companies in the category — including Agility Robotics and Formlogic — can’t hire quickly enough. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only…

A crew of tech billionaires have been trying to get the California Forever project off the ground, which would create a new, supposedly utopian city on land north of the Bay Area. That project is on hold until 2026, when it’s likely to appear on local ballots…

Tesla is hiring individuals standing between 5’7 and 5’11 to carry up to 30 pounds for seven hours a day to train its Optimus robot. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only…